Leadership, teamwork, and emotional intelligence may remain among the hardest professional skills to automate amid the ongoing AI boom, according to a June 2026 GoHumanize study on future-proof workplace skills.
The study examined 60 professional skills to assess which abilities are likely to remain valuable as AI adoption grows across industries. It found that skills requiring social interaction, judgement, and contextual understanding ranked higher in ‘future-proofing’ than technical or process-driven tasks.
Leadership emerged as the most difficult skill for AI to replace. Machines can automate only around 31 per cent of what chief executives and leaders typically do at work, according to the study. Leadership scored highly because it involves reading situations, motivating teams, and making crucial judgment calls, areas where AI systems continue to face limitations, it found.
Collaboration and teamwork ranked second, with researchers pointing to the continued need for human interaction in workplace settings. The study noted that teamwork appeared in nearly four million job listings, indicating strong employer demand for that skill amid rapid advances in AI and automation. The study further found that working effectively with others involves recognising interpersonal dynamics and building trust, capabilities that remain difficult for machines to replicate.
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